A Tel Aviv University study reveals the earliest use of Quina scrapers 400,000 years ago, reflecting a shift in hunting practices due to the extinction of large game such as elephants. The research suggests significant cultural and practical developments in early human societies, linking tool technology with sacred geographic sources of resources. Close-up of a Quina-like scraper from Jaljulia. Credit: Tel Aviv University
The study reveals that 400,000 years ago, early humans developed Quina scrapers for hunting, adapted to the disappearance of elephants and formed a cultural connection to the resource-rich mountains of Samaria.
A recent study from Tel Aviv University has pointed to the earliest global use of concrete stone tools known as Quina scrapers, dating to 400,000 years ago. These tools were first discovered at a site in France and are named after him. They were found at the ancient sites of Jaljulia and Qesem Cave. Quina scrapers are characterized by serrated, sharp working edges, which were used when slaughtering fallow deer and processing their hides.
Scientists explain that after elephants disappeared from the area, ancient hunters were forced to make technological adjustments that allowed them to hunt, cut and process much smaller and faster game – fallow deer. The study also found that the unique tools were made from non-local flint obtained from the mountains of Samaria, which probably also served as a fallow deer calving site, about 20 km east of Jaljulia and Qesem Cave.
As a result, scientists hypothesize that the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim (today near Nablus) were considered a source of abundance and considered sacred by prehistoric hunters as early as the Paleolithic period. The study was led by Vlad Litov and prof. Ran Barkai of the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. The letter was published incl Archeology.
Development of hunting tools
The researchers explain that for about a million years, starting 1.5 million years ago, early humans used stone tools called scrapers to process skins and scrape meat off the bones of mostly large game. In the Levant, they mainly hunted elephants and other large herbivores, which provided them with most of the calories they needed. However, the study found that around 400,000 years ago, after elephants disappeared, hunters turned to a different type of prey, significantly smaller and faster than elephants – fallow deer.
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. View from the east. Credit: Dr. Shai Bar
Litov explains: “In this study, we sought to understand why stone tools changed during prehistoric times, focusing on the technological change of scrapers in the Lower Paleolithic, about 400,000 years ago. During this period, we found a dramatic change in human diet, probably caused by a change in the available fauna: big game, especially elephants, disappeared, and people were forced to hunt smaller animals, especially fallow deer. Clearly, defeating a large elephant is one thing and handling a much smaller and more delicate fallow deer is quite another challenge.
Prof. Ran Barkai. Credit: Tel Aviv University
The systematic processing of many fallow deer to compensate for a single elephant was a complex and demanding task that required the development of new tools. As a result, new Quina scrapers appear with a better shaped, sharper and more even working edge compared to the simple scrapers used before.
Conclusion and historical significance
The study is based on findings from excavations at the prehistoric site of Jaljulia next to Highway 6 in central Israel, probably inhabited by Homo erectus humans. species, as well as evidence from the nearby Qesem Cave. At both sites, excavators discovered many scrapers of a new type, made of non-local flint, the nearest sources of which are the western slopes of Samaria, east of the excavated sites, or the present-day Ben Shemen forest to the south.
Prof. Barkai adds: “In this study, we identified connections between technological developments and changes in the fauna hunted and consumed by early humans. For many years, scientists believed that changes in stone tools resulted from biological and cognitive changes in humans. We demonstrate a dual connection, both practical and perceptual. On the one hand, humans began to make more sophisticated tools because they had to hunt and cut smaller, faster, and thinner game. On the other hand, we identify a perceptual connection: the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim in Samaria, about 20 km east of Jaljulia, were the home of fallow deer and were therefore considered a source of abundance. We found a connection between the abundant source of fallow deer and the source of flint used to butcher them, and we believe that this connection had perceptual significance for these prehistoric hunters. They knew where fallow deer came from and made a special effort to use flint from the same area to make tools for butchering this prey. This behavior is known from many other places around the world and is still widely practiced by indigenous hunter-gatherer communities.
Litov concludes: “We believe that the mountains of Samaria were sacred to the prehistoric people of the Qesem and Jaljulia caves, because this is where the fallow deer came from. It is important to note that at Jaljulia we also found a number of other tools made from different types of locally sourced stones. When the locals realized that the elephant population was dwindling, they gradually targeted the fallow deer. They identified a rich source of deer and began to develop unique scratching posts in the same place. This is the earliest case of a phenomenon that later spread throughout the world.
New scratchers first appeared on a small scale at Jaljulia, about 500,000 years ago, and shortly thereafter, between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago, on a much larger scale at Qesem Cave. The Samar Highlands east of Jaljulia and the Qesem Caves were probably home to a population of fallow deer, as evidenced by skeletal remains recovered from local archaeological sites during the Pleistocene and Holocene. Many fallow deer bones were also found at the site of an altar on Mount Gerizim, attributed in the Old Testament to Joshua bin Nun and identified by some traditions as the site of Abraham’s covenant of pieces described in the Book of Genesis. It is clear that the mountains of Samaria acquired a significant, or even sacred, status already in the Paleolithic period and retained their unique cultural status for hundreds of thousands of years.”
Link: “Stone, Deer and Mountain: Lower Paleolithic Scrapers and Early Human Perception of the Universe” by Vlad Litov and Ran Barkai, 23 Feb 2024, Archeology.
DOI: 10.1007/s11759-024-09493-w